Journal of Applied Science & Process Engineering

Application of Lightweight Characteristic Residual Frame in Small Sample Score Prediction

2025-10-17T08:42:21+08:00

The analysis and modeling of educational data are of great significance to the evaluation of teaching quality and personalized learning guidance. However, the acquisition of academic data is often limited by the costs of data collection and the actual teaching scenarios that occur. Challenges like limited data access, small samples, and data sparsity make small-sample analysis both unavoidable and a persistent challenge in educational research. This study integrates the multi-feature data of 296 students majoring in computer science from a university in Zhengzhou, China. It proposed a feature residual cascade prediction framework that integrates binning technology. Firstly, the unified feature space of multimodal feature fusion is constructed through feature filtering and feature generation. Secondly, a high-precision and high-efficiency prediction model is established by combining the random forest strategy with box division residual error correction, named ReBin (Residual-Binned Model). The experimental results show that the method achieves excellent predictive performance with R ²=0.99 under limited sample conditions, and the improved ReBin model does not generate additional computational burden in terms of execution efficiency. By constructing a comprehensive comparative study of the system, significant breakthroughs have been made in both prediction accuracy and computational efficiency. This further confirms that this study not only provides an effective solution for the analysis of small sample data in education, but also provides an innovative modeling framework for the prediction research of small sample data in other fields, which has important theoretical reference and application value.

Comparative Experimental Investigation for the Separation of Tartaric Acid by Natural and Conventional Solvents

2025-10-29T12:18:16+08:00

Tartaric acid (TA), a valuable organic acid with widespread applications in food, pharmaceutical, and chemical industries, is predominantly found in grapes and winery by-products. This study investigates the physical extraction of TA from aqueous solutions using both conventional solvents (oleyl alcohol, toluene) and natural, non-toxic solvents (rice bran oil, sesame oil). Extraction experiments were conducted at varying acid concentrations (0.04–0.198 mol/L) to determine key separation parameters including distribution coefficient (K_D) and extraction efficiency (E%). Among the solvents tested, oleyl alcohol exhibited the highest extraction efficiency (21.72%) and distribution coefficient (0.181), attributed to its amphiphilic nature and low viscosity, which enhance mass transfer and solute interaction. In contrast, sesame oil showed the lowest performance due to its high viscosity and poor polarity. While extraction efficiencies were lower compared to reactive extraction methods, the use of bio-based solvents presents an environmentally sustainable alternative. These results demonstrate the possibility of enhancing acid recovery procedures by using green solvent systems.

Macro-Nutrient Composition and Feasibility of Fruit Wastes as Agricultural Amendments

2025-10-29T12:20:49+08:00

Fruit waste is an extensive problem, especially in areas where perishable fruits possess a short shelf life, resulting in considerable waste. A method of recycling fruit waste involves using it as a soil amendment, which can reduce the environmental harm caused by artificial fertilisers while supplying essential nutrients to plants from the soil. This study seeks to evaluate the feasibility of particular tropical fruit byproducts as soil amendments. Four diverse fruit varieties were analysed for their nutritional value: pineapple, coconut, watermelon and orange peels. Analysis of nutrient content using ICP-OES revealed that pineapple waste included the highest Magnesium (Mg) concentration at 2420.67 mg/kg, but watermelon rinds displayed the highest Potassium (K) levels at 37426.67 mg/kg and Phosphorus (P) at 2675.33 mg/kg. Concurrently, orange peels had the highest calcium (Ca) concentration at 7756.00 mg/kg among the assessed samples. Nutrient analysis using ICP-OES concluded that pineapple waste contained the highest Magnesium (Mg) concentration, while watermelon rinds exhibited the highest levels of Potassium (K) and Phosphorus (P) in a notable trend. A one-way ANOVA reveals that watermelon rinds have the highest nutritional value and considerable potential as soil amendments, with a p-value<0.05 indicating statistical significance. This indicates the possibility of employing fruit waste as an alternative nitrogen source for soils, thereby alleviating the surplus waste in the market by repurposing it for soil fertilisation.

Thermophysical Characterisation of the Diacetone Alcohol-Water Binary System

2025-10-16T08:16:17+08:00

Understanding of thermodynamic variables in any binary liquid system is crucial for the development of industrial products. Among the various thermodynamic parameters, density (ρ), viscosity (η), surface tension (γ), apparent molar volume (ф_v) and partial molar volume (V̄_m) have been extensively used to characterize the binary liquid systems. In this article, we have investigated the density (ρ), viscosity (η), surface tension (γ), apparent molar volume (ф_v) and partial molar volume (V̄_m) of binary mixtures of diacetone alcohol (DAA)-water system across all mole fractions at 301 K. Viscosity increases as the mole fraction of diacetone alcohol increases up to 0.6 and then decreases drastically. Initially, positive deviations have been observed for the viscosity of the liquid binary mixtures, while it changes to negative at higher DAA concentrations. The increase in surface tension at higher DAA concentrations in the binary liquid mixture indicates stronger intermolecular forces, leading to an increase in the resistance to surface area expansion at the interface. Volume excess properties were analyzed to explore molecular interactions between the components. The excess volume (V^E) and volume changes (V_m) indicate the volume contraction at higher mole fractions of DAA due to stronger intermolecular interactions between diacetone alcohol and water. The structural and thermodynamic data of the DAA-water system can contribute to the advancement of process and industrial product development techniques.

Comparative Analysis of PSO vs. GWO-Enhanced LEACH in Energy-Efficient Wireless Sensor Networks

2025-12-02T17:24:18+08:00

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are extensively used in applications such as environmental monitoring, surveillance, and smart security, but their performance is limited by the restricted energy capacity of sensor nodes, particularly in remote deployments. Efficient cluster head (CH) selection is therefore essential to extend network lifetime and maintain reliable data transmission. This paper presents a comparative study of the conventional Low Energy Adaptive Clustering Hierarchy (LEACH) protocol and its bio-inspired variants based on Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and Grey Wolf Optimization (GWO). The proposed approach integrates energy-aware fitness functions into the LEACH setup phase while preserving the standard data transmission process. Simulation results show that PSO-LEACH improves network stability by approximately 25% and increases throughput by nearly 18% compared to standard LEACH. GWO-LEACH achieves superior performance, extending overall network lifetime by about 40% and maintaining a higher number of active nodes throughout the simulation. The core finding indicates GWO-based CH selection significantly enhances energy efficiency and network longevity over conventional LEACH.

Eco-friendly Hydrophobic Epoxy - Fly Ash Coating to Prevent Fat, Oil and Grease Deposition in Sewers

2026-02-27T14:29:39+08:00

The deposition of fat, oil, and grease (FOG) from food service and residential sources in sewer pipes causes frequent blockages, sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs), and high maintenance costs, mainly due to saponification reactions that create calcium-based, insoluble materials (fatbergs). The aim of this study is to create an eco-friendly and low-cost hydrophobic coating by mixing locally available biomass fly ash with epoxy resin to reduce FOG adhesion in concrete sewer pipes. The specific objectives are: (1) to develop and characterize a novel fly ash - epoxy coating focusing on reduction in FOG deposition, and (2) to evaluate the coatings’ performance by comparing FOG deposit formation in concrete sewer pipes before and after coating application. This study presents an innovative, environmentally friendly coating material made with locally-sourced biomass-based fly ash to mitigate deposition of FOG in sewer pipes. This fly ash contains high silica (SiO₂) content that can contribute to increased hydrophobicity, reducing the odds of deposition of FOG. The coating is made by mixing fly ash particles less than 63 µm with clear epoxy sealer and ethanol. Coatings were prepared by varying fly ash content from 1 to 30 % (w/w%). Prepared solutions were applied to concrete/mortar paste substrates to evaluate the performance of each coating. Selected coatings after preliminary inspection were characterized using contact angle, sliding angle, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) imaging and energy-dispersed X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy. The coatings were subjected to 21 days of synthetic FOG wastewater treatment to simulate sewer conditions. The 5% of fly ash coating showed the highest contact angle, at 101.1^0,and FOG deposition was decreased by 48.5% compared to the uncoated sample. The results indicated that mixing epoxy with a lower amount (1% - 5%) of fly ash enhanced the coating’s hydrophobicity and demonstrated lower adhesion to FOG. By repurposing high-SiO₂ biomass fly ash waste, this method provides a sustainable and economically viable alternative to traditional FOG disposal practices, which can be used to address environmental waste disposal issues as well as the challenges associated with sewer infrastructure.